E is for Elephant, E is for Eames.

The Red Elephant was a toy for my twins, but I liked it too much and I stole it from them.

Charles and Ray Eames experimented with materials a lot. Their goal was to make high quality-low cost furniture that could be mass-produced. The toy elephant was a side fun product of these experiments. It was made of plywood in 1945; however, it never went into production. Now manufactured in plastic in different colors, the Eames Elephant is available to the target group for which it was originally intended: children.

It is a very interesting object because it teaches children how an abstract form or a three dimensional diagram can be easily understood as a symbol. A two year old can tell it is an elephant.

-Aspa Papazaharia